Ski-stopping device

ABSTRACT

827,119. Skis. GERTSCH, E. Feb. 11, 1958 [Feb. 14, 1957], No. 4479/58. Class 132(1) A ski-stopping device comprises a brake lever pivoted to the ski which, on release of the ski-fastening moves from an ineffective to an effective position protruding downwardly beyond the sliding surface of the ski to brake the detached ski. Ski-boot 2 has bolts 20 at its front and rear by which it is held in a safety binding comprising a front part 3 and a rear bolt 22 both secured to the ski 1 . Bolt 22 is movable manually against the tension of a spring 21 by a lever 23. A lever 6 of stiff sheet material is pivoted on a pin 5 mounted in members screwed to the sides of the ski and is biased to its vertical position, chain dotted lines Fig. 1, by a torsion spring. The rear arm 6a of the lever 6 carries a transverse terminal portion 6b which during skiing is held against the ski by the toe of the ski-boot thus holding lever 6 in its inoperative position. When the boot is removed suddenly, e.g. when the skier falls, the lever is released, end 6c engages the snow and the ski is prevented from sliding away. The lever may be locked in its inoperative position during transport by the end of a part slidable by means of flap 9a in grooves 10a in a member 10 secured to the ski and having a part 10b which covers pivot 5 and sping 7 (Fig. 2, not shown). As shown in Fig. 3, boot 2 is retained in a foot plate 13 at whose front end there is a pin 14 engaging a recess in a support 15 adjustably fastened to ski 1 by longitudinal slots. Hinged to a lateral part of support 15 there is a brake lever 17 spring biased to the position shown in chain dotted lines and having an extension 19 normally held under foot plate 13.

1962 E. GERTSCH SKI-STOPPING DEVICE Filed Feb. 10, 1958 United States Patent 3,048,418 SKI-STOPPING DEVICE Ernst Gertsch, Wengen, Switzerland Filed Feb. 10, 1958, Ser. No. 714,399 Claims priority, application Switzerland Feb. 14, 1957 6 Claims. (Cl. 280-1113) This invention relates to a device for stopping a detached ski in case of emergency.

So-called emergency ski bindings which are automatically detached when the skier suddenly falls are used to an increasing degree. Since a ski which becomes free in such a case, in all probability slides away by itself and frequently becomes lost, the ski has been connected heretofore to the skiaboot in any convenient manner, independent of the binding by means of a loose strap. However, also these straps and semi-freed skis represent a risk of accident, as has been proved. It is much preferable to permit the ski to slide some yards away from the place of a sudden fall, then to turn, and to bring it to a stop, and it is an object of the invention to provide a skistopping device of this preferred type.

The ski-stopping device according to the present invention comprises a brake lever arranged on the ski, which lever upon loosening of the binding, is moved from an ineffective position which is maintained during skiing, into a braking position, in which said lever projects laterally beyond the sliding surface of the ski in downward direction, in order to brake the ski after the latter has been detached from the binding.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification of which the accompanying drawings form a part and represent two embodiments of the invention given merely by example, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a ski having a safetybinding and a device for stopping the ski in case the latter becomes detached,

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 represents an elevation of another structural form of the stopping device according to the invention, and

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of FIGURE 3.

Referring more particularly to FIGURES l and 2 of the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the middle portion of a ski upon which the ski-boot 2 is releasably retained by means of a safety binding, which does not form part of the present invention and could be replaced by any other conventional ski-binding.

In the represented binding bolts 20 having rounded ends are secured to the front and rear end of the skiboot, said bolts engaging recesses of a front part 3 secured to the ski and of a rear bolt 22 movable against the tension of a spring 21. The bolt 22 can be pushed back by hand by means of a lever 23.

Ahead of the front part 3 of the ski-binding, a twoarmed lever 6 made from a piece of stiff sheet metal is supported for pivoting movement about a transverse pin 5 mounted in two angular bearing members 4 which are firmly screwed to the sides of the ski. The rear arm 6a of the lever is provided with a transversely extending terminal portion 6b which is designed to be kept abutting against the ski by a portion of the boot 2 during skiing, said terminal portion lying fiat underneath the foremost part of the sole of the ski-boot 2 in the example shown. The remaining portion of the arm 6a and also the other arm 60 are positioned on edge and arranged somewhat outside of the outline of the ski.

A torsional spring 7 surrounding the axle member 5 of the lever 6 has an axially extending terminal portion 7a engaged in a recess of one of the bearing members 4, while the other axially extending terminal portion 7b acts upon a cross-pin 3, securely mounted on the journal member 5 of the lever, in such a manner that said spring tends to rotate the lever 6 in counter-clockwise direction from the inoperative position shown in FIGURE 1 in full lines into the abutting and operative position indicated by dash and dot lines, in which position the lever arm 6c abuts against a screw bolt 12, firmly secured on the ski, and downwardly protrudes beyond the slide sur face In at the side of the ski. Subsequent to a sudden fall of the skier, the lever 6 is brought into this effective position; the lever arm 60 then exerts a braking influence upon the ski, obviously at one side thereof, and the ski will therefore continue to slide in an are for a few yards and then come to a standstill.

While carrying the skis, the lever may be locked in its position of rest by means of an interlock 9 which is movable transversely to the longitudinal axis of the ski 1 in guiding grooves 16a of a structural member 11 by overcoming a certain amount of frictional resistance. Said member 10 is attached to the ski by means of screws 11 and also provided with a tunnel-shaped part 10b which covers the axle member 5 of the lever 6 and the torsional spring 7. FIGURE 2 shows the effective position of the interlock 9 which has an angularly bent operating flap 9a at its end remote from the lever 6. At the beginning of skiing said interlock naturally has to be pushed back in order to enable the lever 6 to function whenever required.

In the example shown in FIGURES 3i and 4, the skiboot 2 is firmly retained in a foot plate 13 provided at the front end thereof with a catch device carrying a pin 14 which cooperates with a recess of an angular support 15 adjustably fastened to the ski 1 by means of longitudinal slots. Pivoted to a lateral part of the support 15 by means of a hinge 16 is a brake lever 17, in which case a spring 18 mounted on the axis of the hinge tends to turn the brake lever 17 into the brake position indicated by dash and dot lines. During skiing the brake lever is situated in the inoperative position shown in solid lines, in which position an extension 19 of the brake lever 17 is situated underneath the foot plate 13 and retains the brake lever 17 in this position. If, however, the foot plate 13 is released by a sudden fall of the skier, the brake lever 17 is moved into braking position by the spring 18. The portion of the brake lever 17 which laterally and downwardly protrudes beyond the sliding surface of the ski starts to brake the ski, freed upon the release of the binding, on one side so that the ski will continue to slide somewhat further in an arc and then will come to a stop. It is thus not necessary to additionally connect the ski to the ski-boot by means of a safety strap. The drawback of such safety straps, which consists in representing a certain risk of accident, thus is avoided.

Various modifications may be made in the examples shown. Thus the portion of the brake lever engaging underneath the boot and the foot plate, respectively could be constructed so as to be extensible or shortenable in order that the brake lever could be arranged more or less remote from the binding dependent on the mode of construction of the associated ski binding. Moreover, the entire stopping device could be situated, instead of in lfjront of the ski-boot, behind the latter or else below said oot.

The stopping device could also be combined with the safety binding, in which case the brake lever may be freed by a member adapted to move during the release of the binding.

I claim:

1. A ski-stopping device adapted to be mounted on the upper boot surface of a ski for stopping a ski upon release of a safety release binding, comprising a brake lever movable from an ineffective position into a braking posi- Patented Aug. 7, 1962 tion and having a portion thereon engageable by a ski boot on the upper boot surface for holding the brake lever in an ineffective position when the boot is in the safety binding and the safety binding is not released, an axle on which said brake lever is rotatably mounted so as to extend laterally of said axle, said axle extending in the longitudinal direction of the ski along one side of the ski and inclined upwardly from the surface of the ski in such manner that the brake lever in the ineffective position lies horizontally on the upper surface of the ski without protruding on the sides of the ski, and that the brake lever in the braking position extends on one side of the ski vertically and protruding downwardly beneath the sliding surface of the ski, and resilient means engaging said brake lever urging the brake lever toward the braking position.

2. A ski-stopping device as claimed in claim 1, in which the brake lever is a broad blade which extends transversely to the ski in the braking position.

3. A ski-stopping device adapted to be mounted on the upper boot surface of a ski for stopping a ski upon release of a safety release binding, comprising a brake lever movable from an ineffective position into a braking position and having a portion thereon engageable by a ski boot on the upper boot surface for holding the brake lever in an ineffective position when the boot is in the safety binding and the safety binding is not released, an axle on which said brake lever is rotatably mounted so as to extend laterally of said axle, said axle extending in the longitudinal direction of the ski along one side of the ski and inclined upwardly from the surface of the ski in such manner that the brake lever in the ineffective position lies horizontally on the upper surface of the ski without protruding on the sides of the ski, and that the brake lever in the braking position extends on one side of the ski vertically and protruding downwardly beneath the sliding surface of the ski, and a spring mounted on the axle and bearing on said brake lever tending to turn the brake lever into the braking position.

4. In combination with a ski having conventional side edges and a conventional upper boot support face; a normally inoperative ski stop adapted upon disassociation of a ski from a skiers boot to be projected into an operative stop position to arrest the free movement of a lost ski comprising an elongated blade member having one end formed to provide a laterally and vertically offset boot engaged portion; shaft means extending laterally away from said blade member in the direction of said laterally offset boot engaged portion; means for journallingly supporting said shaft means on a ski with said blade member lying beyond one edge of said ski and said boot engaged portion overlying the upper boot support face of said ski in the region normally covered by the skiers boot whereby said blade member, upon contact of said boot engaged portion by the skiers boot, will assume a normal inoperative position alongside said one edge of said ski; and resilient means operatively connected to said blade member and to said boot support surface to forcefully project said blade member to an operative braking position at a downward angle to the upper boot support surface of said ski upon release of said boot engaged portion when the ski becomes disassociated from the skiers boot.

5. In combination with a ski having conventional side edges and a conventional upper boot face and safety release boot attachment means, a ski stopping device effective to be projected into an operative position to brake the forward movement of a ski when the ski is freed from the skiers boot comprising a brake member secured to the upper boot face and normally retained in a non-braking position, said brake member having a boot engaging portion engageable with a boot secured in position on the upper boot face of the ski by the safety release boot attaching means to retain said brake member in nonbraking position, an axle shaft means overlying the upper boot face of the ski and a braking portion adapted to be projected downwardly at one side of the ski and below the sliding surface of the ski; means for rotatably mounting said axle shaft means on the upper boot face of the ski to dispose the boot engaging portion in overlying relation to the upper boot face in position to be engaged by the skiers boot when secured in the safety release boot attachment means; and resilient means operatively connected to said brake member and to said mounting means for forcefully rotating said axle to dispose said brake member in its operative position with said braking portion below the sliding surface of the ski upon release of the boot engaging portion when the ski becomes disassociated from the skiers boot.

6. A ski stop assembly for use with skis of conventional construction having a sliding surface, upstanding side edges, an upper boot face and safety release boot attachment means, said assembly comprising a brake member adapted to occupy a normally non-braking position so long as it engages a portion of the skiers boot and be projected into braking position when the ski is freed from the skiers boot, said brake member having a boot engaging portion disposed to be engaged by a boot secured in position on the upper boot face of the ski by the safety release boot attaching means, an axle shaft means overlying the upper boot face of the ski and a braking portion adapted to be projected downwardly at one side of the ski and below the sliding surface of the ski to braking position; means for rotatably mounting said axle shaft means on the upper boot face of the ski whereby the boot engaging portion may be positioned to overlie the upper boot face in position to be engaged by the skiers boot when secured in the safety release boot attachment means to thereby retain said brake member in non-braking position; and resilient means operatively connected to said brake member and to said mounting means and adapted upon retention of said brake member in non braking position to yielding bias said brake member to move from its non-braking position toward its operative braking position upon release of said boot engaging portion when the ski becomes disassociated from the skier boot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,316,252 Karlsson Apr. 13, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 137,700 Austria May 25, 1934 154,159 Austria Sept. 10, 1938 660,942 France Feb. 26, 1929 369,347 Italy Mar. 17, 1939 72,515 Norway Sept. 1, 1947 

